Sunday, September 20, 2009

The first day of class was a surprise to all of us. For most of us it was our first times teaching, so many of us were caught a little off guard. Last Friday we had the opportunity to go back to those mini-lessons and teach them over again, or continue on to another lesson. I think everyone felt a little more comfortable this time around. We knew about this and so we were able to prepare a little for it. Although for some reason it always seems like you have to change something one way or another during the lesson. But it was much easier with the heads up.I decided to continue my football lesson, of catching and throwing, and teach the students how to run a slant route. I demonstrated the route and then had them break up into groups of three and run the route having a quarterback, a receiver, and a defender. The lesson went well and I felt I did a much better job this time around. I was able to see the things that I did better the second time around, like adding an inter task variation to throw with the weak hand. By doing this, it helps make the task a little more challenging and the students seemed to enjoy that. I have created a time coding form to show how much time I spend on management, activity, instruction, and waiting. During my leeson I tried to give feedback to as many people as possible. You can watch this mini-lesson right here.

Friday, September 4, 2009

After a busy summer, it's great to be back in Cortland. On my first day of the fall semester I walked into EDU 255, never thinking that I would be teaching. Well I was wrong. Everyone taught a 5 minute lesson on whatever skill they wanted to using the equipment that we had. At first I felt a little nervous because I'm still in summer mode and not yet in school mode. This 5 minute lesson exercise quickly put me into school mode and allowed me to teach a mini lesson on catching and throwing a football. In my initial micro-teaching episode, I looked a little better than I had expected, but I definitely need some work. Although I was a little nervous throughout the lesson, I do see excitement and enjoyment while I'm teaching. To convey my interests in helping my students learn, I feel that being enthusiastic and confident are essential in teaching a Lesson. If I look like I'm not into what I'm teaching or aren't sure what I'm saying, chances are the students won't either. To make students want to come back and participate I feel you have to make class comfortable for everyone. When I say comfortable I'm talking about allowing everyone to participate and creating a fun environment. Next lesson I plan to improve my organization of the drills and how I can better use the space in the gym. Overall I was happy with the lesson and I am looking forward to correcting my mistakes. Here is my lesson for you to watch.

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About Me

My name is Frank Padolecchia and I am a 20 year old Physical Education major at SUNY Cortland. I play varsity lacrosse at Cortland and on my free time I like to go snowboarding and surfing. My goal is to make others enjoy Physical Education just as much as I do.